Culture and Economy.

Catalog description

This course provides an anthropological approach to the study of economic behavior in a cross-cultural context. Are there places in the world where people don’t care about the latest cell phones or clothing fashions? Do people always seek to buy the most goods that they can with their money? Do different cultures define rational, maximizing behavior differently? In this class students explore the variety of different ways in which people produce, exchange and consume goods and how these processes are embedded in social and cultural institutions. Throughout the semester, students read ethnographic articles and case studies that discuss other peoples’ economic lives and touch on important issues of global poverty and development. Topics include markets, gifts, commodities, property rights, systems of production and exchange, and change within local and global economies. Prerequisite: ANTH 053 or ANTH 054.